Lifeline
by VickyVicarious
Summary: Phoenix drowns. Maya manages to save him - but it isn't pretty. [realistic CPR fic]


**Prompt:** Maya saves Phoenix through realistic CPR. (Emphasis on realistic.) Ema tells her how, bonus points for Pearl being there.

...I paraphrased slightly, but that's the gist of the prompt.

* * *

It takes over twenty minutes for the ambulance to arrive.

Frankly, that it gets there so fast is in itself a miracle. Eagle River is a ways out from civilization, and considering what traffic can be like the travel time is extremely impressive. It still means that they have to keep Phoenix alive for nearly half an hour.

They get him out of the river quick enough, manage to drag him up onto the bank. His and Trucy's kayak is gone for good, but Maya and Pearl still have theirs, with the phones in a waterproof bag. That's good, and Pearl calls for help right away, breathing fast into the phone and spilling all their belongings out onto the ground as she struggles to open up the map. Trucy is kneeling next to Phoenix, staring at his face. She looks as pale as he does. For once, she is completely still.

"Pearl," Maya snaps, "give me the other phone!"

She catches it with slippery fingers, hesitates for only a second, and then scrolls through to 'E' in her contacts and selects the first name on the list. Even as it starts to ring, she's hitting the speaker button, shoving the device into Trucy's limp hands. Her knees hit the dirt next to Phoenix with a _thud_. She feels nothing but a hazy, viciously practical determination.

"Ema," Maya shouts as soon as the phone is picked up. "Phoenix drowned and I need to give him CPR, tell me what to do!"

To her credit, Ema doesn't bother to waste time reacting emotionally to the news. She doesn't question how or why or ask if anyone else is okay, she just leaps to giving directions. Her voice is very firm.

"Check if he's breathing, first. Check his pulse. Carotid artery on his neck, it's easier to find, just next to his windpipe. Ten seconds... Do you feel anything?"

"No," Maya says. "No, no, no -"

Trucy's fingers spasm around the phone. A few feet away, Pearl is saying "...pulled him out but" so Maya repeats herself, louder.

"He's not breathing," she shouts. Her voice sounds too level to her ears, almost wooden. "I can't feel a pulse!"

Pearl nods, echoes that into her phone. From Trucy's wet lap, Ema responds.

"All right, get his shirt off. Make sure you can see his chest."

Maya's fumbling, her fingers are freezing from being in the water and a couple of buttons go flying but she gets his shirt open and the t-shirt beneath was white, it's soaked through, she doesn't bother to move it, just gasps, "Ready."

"One palm flat in the middle of his chest, between the nipples. Other hand on top of it. Get your shoulders over your arms, keep them straight, and push down about two inches - now. Let his chest rise and then again. One, two, thirty of these, six, seven, keep them steady, same pressure, same rhythm, got me?"

Maya doesn't answer. She's pressing down then up, down then up, her wet palms slipping. She lifts one free, shakes it, puts it back down, and pushes. She's breathing hard already.

"-Thirty," she gasps, after a minute, and before she can ask, Ema's already telling her exactly what to do. She's talking fast and her voice is strong and steady and Maya is so, so glad she knew who to call.

"Good, okay, is he breathing? If he isn't, tilt his head back, not all the way, just lift his chin. Pinch his nose shut, take a breath. Cover his mouth completely, this isn't a kiss, don't let the air out, give him two breaths. Is he breathing? CPR again, thirty compressions."

"No, yeah, 'kay," Maya gasps at the appropriate moments, goes back to it again, keeps going. She can already feel it in her arms and she's just started. Ten minutes ago she was whining at Nick about taking a break because she was tired of paddling, and he'd retorted that this was all her idea in the first place so he had no sympathy.

"-doing CPR, yeah, but he's still not. He's still not breathing, he isn't moving, when are you _getting_ here?" Pearl says into her phone. Her voice is wobbling, sounds like she's starting to cry but Maya doesn't look up. Just bends down, grabs his nose, puffs air in. One. Two. He's not breathing. Back to compressions -

Trucy is sitting right next to her and she's not moving. She's not saying anything or doing anything, she's just staring down at Phoenix and her eyes are so so wide, her wet hair clinging to her neck. She looks ten years old again, terrified and heartbreaking, but Maya doesn't have the time or energy for it-

"Keep it steady Maya, keep the beat. You know that song? The one, it goes, 'stayin' alive, stayin' alive'? That's the perfect beat, keep it, do you want me to sing it for you? Just keep going, you got this -"

Maya breathes in and out and pushes up and down and Pearl paces in circles above her, talking frantically to the 911 operator. Ema keeps talking, chants the song, offers encouragement, doesn't shut up for a second; Trucy only sits and stares in shock. Maya keeps pressing, keeps breathing, her arms _burning_ now and it's only been a few minutes. She doesn't know how long it'll take, she doesn't even know for sure if she's really doing this right but it's Nick, _Nick_ , he'll be fine he'll be just fine he's indestructible, push, push, breathe.

Everything else disappears.

Maya pushes and pushes and breathes and checks, and pushes again. Keeps time to Ema's words, stares blankly at Trucy's trembling fingers around the phone, barely hears Pearl screaming into her phone, just - keeps - at - it... Sweat and river water are trickling down her arms. She thinks she's not moving as fast. Her breathing is heavy, but Phoenix still isn't breathing at all, so she pushes down, again, more...

There's a faint, horrible, horrible _crack_.

"Don't stop!" Ema shouts, and Maya jolts forward again, arms trembling under her. "Better a broken rib than dead, do not stop Maya do you hear me?!"

"Yes," Maya sobs. Breathlessly, wet, whatever decisive calm had her moving so fast before is long long gone. She's wavering apart at the edges, she can't see for crying, Ema's voice is all that is keeping her going.

"Daddy," Trucy whispers then, as though the crack has woken her up. A moment later she's on her feet, wailing, " _Daddy!_ " in a voice that could rend the skies and Maya can't, can't take it, can't breathe, can't -

"PEARL," she begs, and a second later two knees hit the ground by her side, two arms reach past her aching, trembling ones, and Pearl starts pumping away. Both the phones are abandoned open on the ground, Ema's still on speaker and she's still shouting encouragement but the 911 operator's voice is only a muffled series of noises. Maya staggers to her feet - her knees are numb. There's a small, sharp rock stuck to her bare skin and she didn't even notice. She doesn't do anything about it now either, just lurches forward, flings her arms around Trucy.

The girl is shaking all over.

"No no no no no, not again," she's saying, low and fast with her eyes fixed on Phoenix's still face, "no he _can't_ , he promised, Auntie please he _promised_..."

Maya folds her into her arms and squeezes as tight at she can, rocks both their bodies side to side. Closes her eyes for just a second.

"Shut up," she says. "Trucy, don't, just - shh. He'll be okay. He'll be okay."

And then she lets go and turns around and plonks back down on the ground where her legs are aching and Pearl is panting and Phoenix is still still still. She waves Pearl's hands away and presses her own down again, pushes hard. Tells Nick he'll be okay with every push. Thinks it with every breath. Promises the daughter and the dead man and herself and Pearl and everyone who has ever, will ever, love Phoenix Wright. It's a long long list and she can't let them all down here, she _won't_. She can do this. She will die to do this if she has to.

When Phoenix wakes up, he vomits.

He curls up on his side and he's hacking, coughing up water and maybe bile or something, none of them knows, it doesn't matter. He sounds awful and looks worse and none of them care _at all_. Trucy makes a noise like a burbling river, something wet and happy and alive, and swoops down to hug him. She stops at the last second, just puts a hand on his shoulder. Pearl has a grip on Maya's wrist so tight it's making her fingers curl. Phoenix keeps on coughing and coughing.

"Is that him?" Ema asks from somewhere in the dirt, they've all forgotten about her. For the first time, her voice betrays real, frantic emotion. " _Thank god_ , Phoenix, you're okay, you're o- Maya. Maya, thank you, Maya - "

Maya's arms are on fire, her head is heavy. She is exhausted and covered in sweat and she is just grinning and grinning and grinning like a mad thing. She wants to thank Ema for getting her through it - to thank Pearl for her help, to take Trucy in her arms and tell her that it's okay, she's never going to lose Phoenix, none of them will, not ever so please don't look like that ever again.

It's the most she can do to sit back and breathe. It's the most any of them could be expected to do.

"Think this place - doesn't like me," Phoenix contributes with a voice as raw as death, and coughs again. When he lifts his head a little, he's smiling, and their eyes meet.

"Shut up," Trucy orders. Slides herself into his side, carefully keeping all her torso a bare inch from his skin as he hacks again. "Don't make jokes."

Phoenix counters with a grin. It looks weak, pale and half-alive, and it makes Pearl start to cry very softly.

"I'm sorry," Phoenix tells her, and pulls both girls close. He's still laying down, mostly, but he tugs them in and kisses their heads, and tells them again, "I'm sorry I scared you. But it's okay. I'm okay."

"You're awful," Maya whispers, with a half-dead smile of her own.

Phoenix winks at her. Lets go of the girls a second later to turn and heave onto the rocks again. Nothing comes up this time and he's shaking all over. He's a little less blue now but still much too pale. One of his hand comes up to clutch at his chest and his face twitches in obvious pain. He's not okay. Not at all.

But he is alive. There are sirens in the distance, and he is still alive.

"You're indestructible," Maya tells Phoenix, and stands up. The little rock falls from her knee and it starts to bleed.


End file.
